Cold Changes Rain To Snow

April 23, 1986|The Morning Call

Unseasonably cool weather brought snow showers to parts of the Lehigh Valley last night. Temperatures in the low 30s mingled with a moisture-laden low-pressure area off the East Coast that produced light rain through most of the day in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The National Weather Service said that light snow started falling at A-B-E Airport at 9:30 p.m., but melted as soon as it hit the comparatively warm ground. The mercury reached 34 degrees at 9 p.m and was descending. A high for the day of 47 degrees was recorded at 9 a.m.

Despite radio reports that last night could have brought "record-cold temperatures" to the area, the Lehigh Valley's weather fell considerably short of a record. The all-time area low for April 22 was 28 degrees, recorded in 1981. And the all-time low for today also was 28 degrees, recorded in 1933 and 1945.

If the temperature had not started to drop dramatically last night, the weather service noted, precipitation would have continued as rain. Even then, only .22 inch of rain fell at the airport between 8:40 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.